Phonebook Sim

[kwestroc]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone knows where to buy phonebook SIM cards in Bangkok. MBK? Pantip? Fortune Mall? If so, how much? I want to use it to activate my iPhone. I guess the card is used to store contacts or something, not really sure. If anyone needs an idea of what I'm talking about, here is a link. http://www.ditsonline.com/ Thanks in advance!

[BB1950]

Your link doesn't give much clue as to what you want. As far as I know, every SIM card in Thailand can store a phone book (or contacts list). I don't think you need a special SIM card. However your iPhone may be locked. Take the phone to MBK. They will be able to help you and if need be, can unlock the phone for use in Thailand

Also be aware that your iPhone does quite a bit of Internet activity and will use of you call credit pretty fast. Read some of the other posts on Thai Visa about this.When you get the SIM card you may want to purchase a prepaid Internet access plan.

[kwestroc]

Your link doesn't give much clue as to what you want. As far as I know, every SIM card in Thailand can store a phone book (or contacts list). I don't think you need a special SIM card. However your iPhone may be locked. Take the phone to MBK. They will be able to help you and if need be, can unlock the phone for use in Thailand

Also be aware that your iPhone does quite a bit of Internet activity and will use of you call credit pretty fast. Read some of the other posts on Thai Visa about this.When you get the SIM card you may want to purchase a prepaid Internet access plan.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm not looking for a traditional SIM card like AIS, Truemove, or DTAC. This is a phonebook card that let's you store contact numbers only to transfer to other phones, regardless if they are locked or not.

[BB1950]

Your link doesn't give much clue as to what you want. As far as I know, every SIM card in Thailand can store a phone book (or contacts list). I don't think you need a special SIM card. However your iPhone may be locked. Take the phone to MBK. They will be able to help you and if need be, can unlock the phone for use in Thailand

Also be aware that your iPhone does quite a bit of Internet activity and will use of you call credit pretty fast. Read some of the other posts on Thai Visa about this.When you get the SIM card you may want to purchase a prepaid Internet access plan.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm not looking for a traditional SIM card like AIS, Truemove, or DTAC. This is a phonebook card that let's you store contact numbers only to transfer to other phones, regardless if they are locked or not.

Do you mean a memory card? Used to store files (music, pictures, etc). Also available at MBK.

[kwestroc]

Your link doesn't give much clue as to what you want. As far as I know, every SIM card in Thailand can store a phone book (or contacts list). I don't think you need a special SIM card. However your iPhone may be locked. Take the phone to MBK. They will be able to help you and if need be, can unlock the phone for use in Thailand

Also be aware that your iPhone does quite a bit of Internet activity and will use of you call credit pretty fast. Read some of the other posts on Thai Visa about this.When you get the SIM card you may want to purchase a prepaid Internet access plan.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm not looking for a traditional SIM card like AIS, Truemove, or DTAC. This is a phonebook card that let's you store contact numbers only to transfer to other phones, regardless if they are locked or not.

Do you mean a memory card? Used to store files (music, pictures, etc). Also available at MBK.

Not a memory card. It's called an address book SIM. You put it in like a normal SIM and it will load contacts from your address book onto your phone. It looks like a normal sim like this. Here is a picture and description from the site. http://www.phonebookcard.com/

[astral]

That sounds like a con to me.

Surely you can insert any SIM card and transfer contact to it,

then put the SIM in another phone and load the contacts there?

The fact that the phone is locked only affects your ability to make calls with the SIM,

not to access more basic functions.

PS SIM cards do not store all the info that may be in the phone contacts memory.

[BB1950]

I doubt you find it in Thailand for these reasons:

• The menus are in English and it appears to have no other language support
• Thais seem to never back up or transfer phone data, even when they use a computer interface. They are more concerned about their pictures/music/videos.
• Thais rarely use the extended information that can't be stored on a SIM phone book
• The price of a SIM card is so cheap (50 baht) the ones that do want to keep the information in their phone book just copy it to another SIM card.
• It's price is about the same price as a USB or Blue Tooth interface and software in Thailand
• It doesn't appear to support the phones that are popular in Thailand..Whereas the SIM phone book works in all phones.

However it seems like a novel idea for foreigners (if it works)! I would check reviews/comments about it before purchasing one. The information on the site is a little lacking.in information.

I see from their site that they do international shipping. If you wanted one you could have it shipped through USPS. The shipping shouldn't be expensive as it's small and lightweight and I doubt that it would have any Customs fees.

[kwestroc]

Hi guys, back from fortune mall and MBK. Well looks like BB was right. I looked high and low, got blank stares, as well as some oh yeah I know what you mean, but I don't know where the hel_l to get one. Anyways, I was going to use this to activate my iPhone 4 (get it off the emergency call screen). Looking for an AT&T sim now hahahahaha! The journey continues!

[bendejo]

There is an Apple store in Siam Discovery, maybe they can help.

[BB1950]

Hi guys, back from fortune mall and MBK. Well looks like BB was right. I looked high and low, got blank stares, as well as some oh yeah I know what you mean, but I don't know where the hel_l to get one. Anyways, I was going to use this to activate my iPhone 4 (get it off the emergency call screen). Looking for an AT&T sim now hahahahaha! The journey continues!

I'm a little bit confused as to what you want. I thought you said the phone was unlocked and that you were just trying to transfer the phone book from one phone to another. I also thought that you were talking about older versions of the iPhone.

Now it seems that the phone is locked ('not activated' in your words), which is most likely why you can't get past the emergency call screen. Getting an AT&T SIM card most likely is not going to help, unless it has roaming enabled (there are no AT&T cells anywhere close to Thailand). Unlocking a phone usually requires reprogramming the firmware in the phone and/or some minor hardware modifications.

Did you specifically ask if they could unlock the phone to use a Thai SIM card, or where you just looking for this phone book card? There is a difference. MBK or Pantip Plaza are your best resources for unlocking the phone to use a Thai SIM card. The iPhone 4 is the latest and greatest model. AFAIK it's only available in the US and under strict contract with AT&T to be the sole mobile provider. From what I have heard, changes were made to make it more difficult to be unlocked to use on other carriers. So there may not be a 'hack' available to unlock it yet. But I'm sure there is work underway by hackers, if not.

Because of the contract between Apple and AT&T, I doubt the Apple store will be of any use. They shouldn't be used in Thailand without AT&T's roaming service.

If you didn't ask if the phone could be unlocked at MBK, then I would suggest you go back to MBK to see if they could unlock it. They may be able to do it, it a 'hack' is available (there may be a hack 'leaked' on the Internet). Look for vendors selling 'original' iPhones (not the copies). Otherwise, you may have to wait awhile.

Good Luck!

[kwestroc]

Hi guys, back from fortune mall and MBK. Well looks like BB was right. I looked high and low, got blank stares, as well as some oh yeah I know what you mean, but I don't know where the hel_l to get one. Anyways, I was going to use this to activate my iPhone 4 (get it off the emergency call screen). Looking for an AT&T sim now hahahahaha! The journey continues!

I'm a little bit confused as to what you want. I thought you said the phone was unlocked and that you were just trying to transfer the phone book from one phone to another. I also thought that you were talking about older versions of the iPhone.

Now it seems that the phone is locked ('not activated' in your words), which is most likely why you can't get past the emergency call screen. Getting an AT&T SIM card most likely is not going to help, unless it has roaming enabled (there are no AT&T cells anywhere close to Thailand). Unlocking a phone usually requires reprogramming the firmware in the phone and/or some minor hardware modifications.

Did you specifically ask if they could unlock the phone to use a Thai SIM card, or where you just looking for this phone book card? There is a difference. MBK or Pantip Plaza are your best resources for unlocking the phone to use a Thai SIM card. The iPhone 4 is the latest and greatest model. AFAIK it's only available in the US and under strict contract with AT&T to be the sole mobile provider. From what I have heard, changes were made to make it more difficult to be unlocked to use on other carriers. So there may not be a 'hack' available to unlock it yet. But I'm sure there is work underway by hackers, if not.

Because of the contract between Apple and AT&T, I doubt the Apple store will be of any use. They shouldn't be used in Thailand without AT&T's roaming service.

If you didn't ask if the phone could be unlocked at MBK, then I would suggest you go back to MBK to see if they could unlock it. They may be able to do it, it a 'hack' is available (there may be a hack 'leaked' on the Internet). Look for vendors selling 'original' iPhones (not the copies). Otherwise, you may have to wait awhile.

Good Luck!

Ok, thanks. It's just a blank SIM card used to transfer contact numbers from one phone to another, regardless if the phone is locked or not. I know it sounds like a crock, but it works. It doesn't unlock the phone, just get's the iPhone past the emergency call screen, that's all I want to happen.